For Boston 2024, last week was a triumph as the U.S. Olympic Committee chose Boston to represent the United States in bidding for the 2024 Summer Games.

For the residents, business owners and neighborhoods that form the fabric of our city, it’s an open question whether there is much to celebrate.

Boston 2024 has shared an enticing general sketch of the Summer Games in Boston: a walkable Olympics leveraging university facilities and private sponsorships, instead of public funding, to produce economic opportunities, affordable housing, and time on the world stage.  Most of all, they say, regardless of whether an Olympic bid is successful, Boston will have engaged in an important public planning conversation along the way.

If there is any city that could do the Olympics differently and do it right, Boston is the one.  But meaningful conversation requires informed participation, with full access to budgets and plans, and full knowledge of interested parties that stand to benefit.  Boston 2024’s successful proposal to the USOC still has not been released to the public.

Mayor Martin J. Walsh’s administration is moving to bring sunlight to the Olympic bid with a series of nine community meetings across the City’s neighborhoods between January and September 2015.

And while the Mayor’s drive for transparency is welcome and laudable, monthly public informational meetings are not enough.  It is neither fair nor realistic to expect residents across the city who are worried about making the mortgage payment or their kids’ homework, or small business owners concerned with making payroll and day-to-day operations, to bear the burden of processing and vetting all aspects of hosting the Olympics.

Boston 2024 and government leaders should step up to guarantee true transparency and accountability, starting with the following:

In the drive to prove our status as a world-class city, let’s stay true to our democratic legacy and what Boston has already given to the world: informed independence and true debate.

Michelle Wu is a Boston City Councilor, one of four elected city-wide.